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Template:Key press/doc

From Wikitech


This is the {{key press}} template primarily designed to illustrate keys and keystrokes on a computer keyboard. With additional parameters, a single template can even illustrate a combination of multiple simultaneous keystrokes. A sequence of keystrokes, on the other hand, need to be demonstrated with separate templates.

Example

{{key press|A}} → A

As lower-case alphabetic characters a–z do not appear on most keyboards, they should not be used as parameters.

Keystroke combinations

To illustrate keystroke combinations, just use extra parameters:

{{key press|Alt|P}} → Alt+P
{{key press|Ctrl|Alt|Del}} → Ctrl+Alt+Del

When you feed several key names to this template, it adds a "+" (or whatever the contents of the optional chain parameter) with no spaces around. This means it won't line wrap. But when you show key combinations for instance in a table that might cause items to be too wide. Instead manually build the key combination with spaces around the "+" so it can line wrap:

{{key press|Ctrl}} + {{key press|Alt}} + {{key press|Del}} → Ctrl + Alt + Del
{{key press|Ctrl|Alt|Del|chain= + }} → Ctrl + Alt + Del

To illustrate sequences where all keys do not need to be pressed simultaneously, the plus signs can be omitted by setting chain=. For example, in most Windows systems in North America and Western Europe, Alt codes can be used to insert the plus-minus sign (±) by holding down the Alt key while typing 0177 with the numeric keypad:

{{key press|Alt|0}}{{key press|1|7|7|chain=}} → Alt+0177

An example of a use case where more than 5 might be used is explaining usage of a macro (keyboard shortlxut) created by a third-party application:

{{Key press|Ctrl|Alt|Shift|Win|Menu|fn|...}} → Ctrl+Alt+⇧ Shift+⊞ Win+≣ Menu+fn+L

If there is an article about the key you can wikilink the key's name like any other wiki text. Like this:

Wiki markup characters

Some wiki markup characters, like the pipe symbol, the semicolon and the equals sign, need to be entered using the en:HTML entity |, &#59;, = respectively:

However, if the characters are marked as wikilinks, they can be entered as such:

Most markup characters also have aliases:

Key symbols

Some key names have a fitting w:Unicode character. This template automatically adds such "icons" to the following key names among others.

Windows key and Menu key
Old-style Windows key

There are no characters for the Windows key and Menu key. So this template shows approximate characters for them from the Mathematical Operators Unicode block:

Video games

Video game controllers often have specialized input labels that do not map easily. The following are mappings for various game consoles and input features.

Directional input

The following should only be used when the input sequence uses something other than the primary input or mixes input between directional devices.

Stick specific diagonals are also supported:

PlayStation

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData documentation for this template used by VisualEditor and other tools.

Key press

Illustrates keys and keystrokes on a computer keyboard. Keys can include: Ctrl, Alt, Del, Opt, Menu, Left etlx. console keys: ex, circle, triangle, square, and left right and center analog sticks: l-down, c-left, r-ne. The names are case insensitive.

Template parameters

ParameterDescriptionTypeStatus
First key1

First key

Linerequired
Second key2

Optional key press in combination as the first.

Lineoptional
Third key3

Optional key press in combination as the first.

Lineoptional
Fourth key4

Optional key press in combination as the first.

Lineoptional
Fifth key5

Optional key press in combination as the first.

Lineoptional
Sixth key6

Optional key press in combination as the first.

Lineoptional
Seventh key7

Optional key press in combination as the first.

Lineoptional
Eighth key8

Optional key press in combination as the first.

Lineoptional
Ninth key9

Optional key press in combination as the first.

Lineoptional
Tenth key10

Optional key press in combination as the first.

Lineoptional
Chaining characterchain

Character between chained key presses

Default
+
Lineoptional
Chaining characterchain first

Character between first and second key to press

Default
+
Lineoptional
Chaining characterchain second

Character between second and third key to press

Default
+
Lineoptional
Chaining characterchain third

Character between third and fourth key to press

Default
+
Lineoptional
Chaining characterchain fourth

Character between fourth and fifth key to press

Default
+
Lineoptional